Halloween

So I know it has taken me a while to post for Halloween. We decorated cupcakes for Family Home Evening the Monday before. Mason had been asking to make red cupcakes for a while so we found a strawberry cake mix and made some with and some without extra red food coloring. He loved making the little spiders on the cupcakes.

The night before Halloween we were making sure we were set with his costume. We got him is his costume and while my back was turned he found his little super hero mask and added it to the costume. When I asked if he was a super pirate he said "Yeah, I rescue the bad guys". He was ready. We took a picture and put the little pirate to bed. The next morning, getting ready for school he decided he wasn't going to be a pirate. He opted to be a soldier, again, for the third year in a row. I didn't get a picture of him this year in the soldier costume but I believe there is one in a previous post.

You can't help but love this little boy.

It's Been A While

Ok, I know I have severely neglected our blog so I hope you will forgive me if this post is a bit random. Here's a little catch-up. We moved back to Idaho two years ago and stayed with Travis's mom for a while and then with my parents while we fixed up my grandpa's rental home to live in. We were there for several months when Travis got a teaching job at BYU Idaho. After commuting for five months we moved closer to the school and we are loving it here. I'm getting to know the moms in our neighborhood, Mason is enjoying kindergarten and Travis is finally in a teaching position that he has been praying for for a long time. About a year ago we began the adoption application process. Our case worker told us that you could theoretically push through and get an application done in three weeks. We foolishly thought we could do that. Not so... I think it took us about ten months from start to finish. The hardest part, for me anyway, was the letter to the birth parents. How do you decide what to tell someone who is looking for someone to raise their child? How much do you share?

Camping

We'd been talking about going camping for a while earlier this summer and we finally made it happen. With the help of our leftover Christmas money we had, we found a nice tent and some other camping gear and probably spent more then we needed to or should have. It was worth it to me though.

If it hadn't been for the bugs and the fact that we needed to cook our dinner I don't know that we would have a fire at all. It was a really warm day. I think it got down to 73 degrees that night and it was very humid and there was no breeze. Sleep did not come easily. Mason didn't seem to mind though. He danced around the tent and had a great time taking full advantage of a late (more like lack of) bedtime that night. Sitting around the fire. We had an uninvited guest during our little camping trip. Mason loves to explore when he's in a new place so Travis took him for a walk. While on this walk Travis saw and pointed out this cat that he saw. One of them called the cat over and they started petting it. While petting it Travis realized his mistake. The cat followed them back to the campsite and didn't leave until after we did the next morning.There is a creek that runs though the park where we camped. This a foot bridge that goes over it. I know, not that impressive.This, however, was impressive (to me, at least). I've never forded a creek before. Sure, I've driven through puddles before but this was quite different. I was sure we were going to be swept away.We made it across though. Several times, in fact.
We went camping the following week because we had so much fun. We decided to to a two-nighter the second time around and decided that that was Mason's limit. While we were breaking camp he insisted on sitting in the hot tent or waiting in the car. He had had enough of the bugs and just wanted to sit and watch a movie on his little DVD player. I know, way to rough it. IPods and movies.

Although it was cooler and I think we slept a little better, the bugs were just as bad. We ended up driving to the nearest Walmart and buying some fogger and spraying our campsite with it. I was wishing we had done that the first time camping and the night before. It was great.

I forgot the camera on our second camping trip and was regretting it because we saw a couple of baby raccoons. They were just wandering around the park. I wasn't expecting to see much wildlife but there they were.

BUBBLES, BUBBLES, BUBBLES

While we were in Idaho Mason had his little birthday party with his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. One of his gifts was bubbles with a long bubble wand. He LOVES it. The first time we got it our we were all surprised at the size of the bubbles and I was surprised at how long Mason chased them around. I am amazed sometimes at how much energy that child has.

Hide and Seek

Travis was taking Mason back to the bathroom last night to get him ready for bed. Mason's new favorite thing to do is play Hide and Seek. One the way back and into the bathroom the conversation went like this:

Mason: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7,
Travis: Oh, you're stuck. 8.
Mason: 8, 8, 8,
Travis: Hahahaha. 9
Mason: 9
Travis: 10
Travis is still holding him at this point.
Mason: 10... Ready or not, I coming. (small pause) I find you!!!

Cousins, A.K.A., Best Buds

I love watching these two play together. It's probably one of my favorite things about going to Idaho. You can tell Mason is an only child. I guess we need to practice sharing more with other children. Mason didn't want to watch what his other cousins were watching on TV so we got the little DVD player out for him. It's a good thing his cousin was being patient and was content to watch the movie over his shoulder.

We went to see the baby farm animals at the fairgrounds while we were in Idaho and I think the boys had more fun playing in the little pools filled with pea seeds. I didn't think we brought any seeds home but when I did laundry I kept finding more that they must have been "hiding" in their pants.

"Hey! Where'd he go?"

Mason: I'm king of the mountain!!!

Teigan: Not if I can help it!!!

One of Mason's favorite things to do while at Grandma and Grandpa Turners' house is to ride the little four-wheeler around the yard. This time around, Grandma went out to Aaron and Vanaes' house and picked up their four-wheeler so Mason and Teigan could ride together. Looks like we needed a third so Violet could ride too.

Mason's New Favorite Thing To Do

So, I know that I have really neglected our blog lately. I'm finally sitting down to do a little updating and share a few videos of Mason thoroughly enjoying some time with Travis and his harmonicas. There was a lot of video taken and it was hard to narrow it down to one or two so I went ahead and posted these four. I hope it isn't overkill.

Travis decided he needs to learn a few real songs. In case you can't tell, Mason is doing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Apparently, that would be a good one for Travis to learn.

In this last one Mason just started putting one harmonica away at a time but one of the harmonicas don't belong in this set so there wasn't ever enough slots to put them all away. My baby cracks me up. I hope you enjoy.

twin baby boys have a conversation - part 2 ORIGINAL VIDEO

I stole this from a friends status on Facebook and it was too good not to share. It really makes you wonder what they are thinking. I love the mismatched/missing socks.

Because It's Been A While

So I've been thinking I need to do a blog post but haven't sat down to put any thought into one until now. I don't have very many new pictures to work with because in our hurry to get to the airport on time we left our camera in Idaho earlier this month. There have been a couple of times I wished I had it here to capture some of the things that Mason has been up to or getting into. On the other hand, when I do pull out the camera he usually stops what he's doing and stares, glares or he hides. I guess I'm not sneaky enough.

Here are a couple of pictures. They are a little random but I thought they were worth sharing.

We stayed with Nick and Jenny for a night last time we went to Idaho and Mason had fun playing Wii with Uncle Nick. I love how he aims by resting the butt of the gun on his eye.

Lately, Mason has really been liking our bed. He loves to get in and play with my clock radio, baby monitor, touch lamp and doodle with the pen and paper I keep on my night stand. On this particular day he stuck the post-it on his forehead by himself and left it there for quite a while.I snapped a few pictures and left. A while later, Travis brought Mason out to the kitchen where I was cleaning or making dinner (I don't really remember which but it's not important anyway) and showed me what Mason had drawn. Unfortunately his latest work of art was up and down his arm. Also unfortunate, I didn't take a picture of his very pink inky arm. We later discovered that the drawing didn't end with the paper and his arm. He also started coloring on the quilt we have on our bed. I guess he thought it needed more pink in it. Luckily, it all came out. I think. I can't see it anymore so it's good enough for me.

A Conversation...

Annie was in the kitchen making dinner, and Mason and I were playing in the back of the apartment when we had the following conversation:

Mason: Daddy, you go find Mommy.
Me: Okay. What do I do when I find her?
Mason: Ummm...Okay.
Me: Should I give her a kiss?
Mason: Ummm...No hanks (thanks).

What We've Been Up To

Anyone who knows Mason knows his love for trains. Thomas in particular. He brought home a pretty decent haul from Christmas in Idaho. He has a lot of fun driving the train around the tracks but not before having Mom and Dad "help" set up the tracks for him.

Travis works from home when he can so as to avoid wasting time walking back and forth to the library. Quite often Mason wants to go back to daddy's little workspace in the bedroom. I pulled out the gates and have used them a couple of times to keep him out in the living room so Travis can work but Mason lets us know how unhappy this makes him. Travis thought he would make a quick little fort in the couch to keep Mason happy one day and it worked better than I thought it would.

BEHOLD THE BLIZZARD OF 2011

We started hearing last Friday or Saturday about this blizzard we were going to get. Apparently it was quite the storm spanning over 2,000 miles. Chicago received 20.2 inches while we ended up with 18.7 inches. I saw reports of snow drifts that were 3 to 4 feet high. That's a lot of digging out.

So here's how we handled this paralyzing storm. As soon as it stopped snowing and blowing we went out and made sure we could get to our cars. Getting to our cars proved to be pretty easy. Digging out the cars on the other hand... we'll see.

We wanted to take Mason sledding and we had thought about this before the storm blew in but never made it out to buy a sled for him. This was our solution. We put a pillow in a laundry basket and used one of Travis's old belts to pull it. It was quite a success and Mason loved it. That is, until he saw and wanted to go to the park. The snow was too deep and the "sled" kept tipping over. We gave up there and decided to just walk around. Mason didn't agree with that decision and we ended up going home with the promise of watching Cars (one of Mason's favorite movies). Three times we went out and three times Mason was promised a movie or rather bribed with one so he would come inside quietly.

We will have had Travis home most of the week. He worked Monday and Tuesday. Places starting closing early on Tuesday due to the storm, and Wednesday and Thursday were snow days. Sometimes it's weird to have him home this much and I have to keep telling him to get back to work. Hopefully next week will be business and usual and we can all get back into our normal routines.

Christmas Vacation 2010

With Christmas Vacation 2010 came a few more firsts for Mason. He saw Grandma Smith and Aunt Tara shoveling snow one morning and decided he better help. Grandma and Grandpa Turner got a little 4-wheeler for the grandkids to share and Mason loved riding it. If you look closely you can tell he is a lot like his mommy because he wore his slippers while he rode. Not the greatest picture as far as showing what is happening here. Christmas morning Mason's cousin got a sled and we all went sledding while Grandma stayed home and got Christmas dinner ready. Mason loved going down the hill with Aunt Tara. I wasn't wearing proper shoes for sledding and the one time I went down one of my shoes fell off. It was still fun. Cold, but fun. The first half of Christmas Eve was spent with the Turner side. Mason loves playing with his cousins. He wasn't very interested in having his picture taken so this is about as good as it gets. Maybe an aunt or uncle got a better one with their camera. Best buds. Being dressed alike was not planned. I think they were watching a movie or they probably would have both been looking at the camera. We got home from church the first week in Idaho and there was some good snowman snow so I told Travis he should go make a snowman for Mason. Travis' dad got there about the same time and helped build it. Then Mason went out and helped put the face and buttons on. They made him facing the house so Mason could look out the window and see his snowman. Another first and he loved it.

Christmas Tree Take 2

This is the first Christmas tree in our 6 1/2 years of marriage and it didn't even last 24 hours [Travis here with a correction: We had a Christmas tree in Boston. It was about 18 inches tall and had the fiber optic twinkling and color-changing lights. I guess it wasn't very memorable for my wife]. The sweet little boy in the picture (aka Mason) tipped it over twice and I took it down instead of waiting for him to do it again. I get tired of those games a lot sooner than Mason does.

This is our second tree. Made entirely out of paper and tape, it doesn't tip over or take up any room which is great because we don't have a lot of free space for a tree at the moment.

Mason had a lot of fun helping me decorate it. I'm not sure if he liked the candy canes on the tree though because he kept taking them off.
I think my favorite ornament is the gingerbread man holding the candy cane. That wasn't the original plan. They were going to be separate ornaments but I think I liked them better as one.

Thanksgiving

We were forutnate enough to spend Thanksgiving in Idaho with the family again this year. It was a blast, of course. Any time spent with family is time well spent as far as I'm concerned. Thanksgiving day was great. Good food was eaten, paper turkeys were made, young cousins played, and naps were taken (but only by adults).

The best part was being able to watch the kids play with each other.

Mason loved riding his cousin's 4-wheeler.

The making of turkeys and a napper in the background

The end result

I wish I had taken more pictures but I was busy having fun and enjoying good food and company. It doesn't get much better then that.

Stalling Tactics

So lately Mason has been trying anything he can think of to get out of going to bed (and sometimes going down for naps). We decided to compile a list of all of the things he has tried in order to stay up later. Here they are.

The top 10 things Mason does to put off going to bed.


10. Eats dinner very slowly

9. Requests a snack at the last minute

8. Requests another drink after one sat in front of him at the table untouched for the duration of dinner. He is suddenly thirsty at bedtime.

7. Brushes teeth very slowly or simply refuses to brush them

6. Asks for another song

5. Asks for anther book

4. Refuses a diaper change

3. Insists he pooped and needs another diaper change after refusing the first one. He has yet to actually be poopy after such a claim.

2. Insists on another family prayer

1. Puts himself in time out. He plops down on the time out stool and says "two minutes" or "don't move"



My favorite ones are the time out and asking for more prayer.

Cheese Trains and Wet Socks

So, this post will be pretty random. I try not to do random posts but I didn't feel like doing 4 to 6 posts tonight.

We could not get Mason to eat anything tonight, and it was getting closer to bedtime. As many of you know, he is obsessed with trains. I suggested a cheese train. He liked the idea. Travis cut the cheese into a train. It's funny to watch (or listen to) Mason while someone is doing some type of train art. He gets pretty excited and does this delightful squeal/giggle/laugh.

I was getting Mason ready for a bath Saturday night and totally forgot to take his socks off. He was so concerned that he still had his socks on and that they were wet.I should have taken a picture of the whole park. It was closed off all summer. They finally finished it in September so we put our jackets on and went to play at the park for home evening one night. If you look at Mason's nose he has a car "sticker" (band aid) on. I don't really remember how he got the sore but he loved wearing the stickers.Travis hates when I post stuff like this but this is the work of Mason. He likes to put us down for naps. He goes to his room and get a blanket and usually a few other things. He makes sure you have a pillow and will not let you get up until he is satisfied that you have taken a decent nap.We are finally to the Halloween pictures. We decorated cupcakes tonight.I was surprised when Mason put the skull and pumpkin on the cupcake instead of in his mouth. He did eat one of each and was a little upset when we said no to more. These are the cupcakes that Mason decorated.

Here are all of them that we did.

We went to a primary Halloween activity Wednesday night and Mason was a little soldier. (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the outfit.) He had a lot of fun playing the games and seeing the other children in their costumes.

The Missing Tortillas

Mason and I went grocery shopping this morning and got home just in time for lunch. Travis was getting stuff out for a quesadilla for Mason and told him to give the tortillas to Mommy (or he thought he did). Meanwhile, I was in the bedroom changing into something more comfortable (I love wearing lounge pants around the apartment). I came back out to the kitchen and Travis was looking for the tortillas. He asked me if Mason gave them to me. He hadn't. We looked everywhere. We asked Mason to take us to the tortillas. We looked in the cabinets and drawers, the garbage, and under pillows and blankets in the living room. I ended up making Mason cheesy bread for lunch instead of the intended quesadilla.

About 1:00 Travis went back to work and I was left with Mason and lunch cleanup. As I was putting the cheese back in the bottom drawer in the fridge I saw something that didn't belong there. The tortillas were in the back of the drawer under some other cheese. I think Travis intended to give the tortillas to Mason to give to me but put them in the drawer where the cheese was. We know that Mason didn't put them there because Travis said he was in the fridge still getting things out when Mason walked away and what would posess a 2 year old to bury the tortillas as far down and back in the fridge as he could get? We had a good laugh and apologies were made to Mason for blaming him for the missing tortillas.

Shush!

Lately Mason has started crying and screaming when we leave his bedroom at night after putting him down. He goes through this phase every once in a while. For a week and a half we put up with it, letting him cry and checking on him every ten or fifteen minutes. On Sunday, I was tired of listening to him. As I was losing patience, rather than yelling I gave him a stern "Shush!" He stopped almost instantly and that was the end of it. The next night when he started crying Annie tried it. It worked again. It has worked every night this week.

On a few of these past nights while crying Mason stops long enough to shush himself and then continues crying until we go and shush him.

Cleaning

Mason likes to run around with a water gun/bottle and spray us, himself or the furniture. Anything really. Then he points to whatever it is he sprayed and says "wet". We decided to take the opportunity to teach him a little cleaning. He kind of got into it too. He would spray the coffee table or the TV just to wipe them off. If only all of life's lessons were that easy to teach to your children.

Excuse Me

A few weeks ago before church Mason was having Travis march around the coffee table with him to a CD of church music. At first they were just marching but then I sat down and put my foot up on the coffee table. They marched around several times and Mason kept saying "'scue me" so I just left my foot down. The next time they came around he stood there until I put my foot up so he could say "'scue me" again and continue marching.